504 Rift-Life

To be honest, with Michael, Saeko, Megumin, and Tiffania, even facing two dragons was scarily easy. The second one went down without much issue, the beast having its vocal cords cut before it could unleash any big shouts...

If anyone else in Tamriel were to know about their effectiveness, they'd probably just abandon the Dragonborn and rely on them straight up.

Michael acquires both of the dragon soul shards and stores the rest of the materials, somehow still bored even after killing two dragons... Was this the price of being too strong or something?... Was this Saitama-Syndrome!?

"Well, that's it, can we go home yet?" Megumin asks, as if they hadn't just killed two of the strongest creatures in Tamriel.

...

"Yeah, I guess so..." Michael huffs as he opens a Dimension Gate home, wondering if he should just find his fun elsewhere. He didn't want to leave before the dragon crisis was solved but, he had an itch that he couldn't quite scratch...

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A few days later, Michael received a letter from Jarl Elisif of Solitude, which basically demanded his complete obedience to the Imperial Legion with the added threat of tearing down his Spire should he refuse.

His reply?

"Dear Elisif the Fair, go eat a dick backwards."

Yeah, not as eloquent as it should have been, but he wasn't going to take that skank's threats lightly. If she actually tried to do anything he'd throw her from the top of his Spire... He wished he could see her expression when she gets the letter though...

Her threat was a bit out of nowhere, but she was a recent widow, plus the resurgence of the dragons, he was sure the woman was losing her mind right about now.

Regardless, he was more interested in his current project... He'd embued a dragon soul into Derflinger, and boy, had that upgraded the sentient sword some. The first change was Derflinger's ability to freely use magic, the sword no longer needed to charge itself up, or have someone else channel magic into it to cast spells.

Second, Derflinger had become able to use the Thu'um from the Aetherium head fixed on the blade... Which was kind of hilarious the first time the sword had done it.

Third, the sharpness and durability of the sword had drastically increased... Even swinging the thing at pure Aetherium did nothing to it, not even dulling the edge a bit.

He'd left the sentient sword with Illcocoo and Paarthurnax so they could teach it the Thu'um properly. Hopefully it would learn the Time Stop shout, as that thing would be a game-changer in any battle.

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Elsewhere :

While Michael was writing out his reply to Elisif, Charlotte was up to her elbows in her own work... The short girl was adorned with Clavicus Vile's Masque and the Chain of Arkmis through which Clavicus spoke to her through.

Things had been hectic for her ever since the end of the Hunt, though, not all bad. Finding out that Michael yet lived despite her killing of him had been a huge relief, one that brought her to tears when she discovered it...

Clavicus Vile hadn't been all that happy of course, especially so when the Spire was erected, but she could take his enraged punishments in exchange for the good news.

Unfortunately, she'd been forced to start moving against the 'Eye of the World' as the Spire had been called. At Clavicus Vile's command, she'd gone to Solitude and began by forcing a Thane named Erikur to do her bidding.

It hadn't been all that difficult... While the man was powerful in many ways, monetarily, connects, and politically, he didn't possess power where it mattered... Might.

Freezing him solid for a long enough that he'd been covered in frostbite had been enough to 'persuade' him, and under Clavicus orders, he'd begun to push Jarl Elisif in subtly ways, making her life hell when it came to ruling Solitude, along with occasionally sending assassins to keep her paranoid. All while placing the blame on Ulfric of course, which didn't require more convincing since the woman was already sure Ulfric was responsible for all of her suffering anyway.

So that was phase one complete, set the crazy Jarl on Michael.

Phase two was to help the Imperials win the Civil War, but after that? Charlotte had not been made aware.

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Brynjolf rubs his forehead as he reads the report. The Thalmor had been snooping around Riften, looking for god knows what. The reason he hadn't had them killed was because that'd put him firmly in the Stormcloak camp.

That said, he did contact a certain Brotherhood to deal with the matter once the Thalmor were far enough away from Riften... Hopefully, they'd get the message that they weren't wanted.

Outside of Skyrim and the quickly escalating Civil War that Lady Elisif seemed keen on continuing, he'd even gotten word that the Thalmor were considering sending a fleet from the Summerset Isles to 'put the rightful rulers of Skyrim where they belonged', whatever that meant.

Their huge defeat in Hammerfell had probably made them desperate for a victory somewhere, even if it was for someone else's benefit.

"Sir! You need to see this!" a guard Riften exclaims as he arrives in Brynjolf's office, it was a tad too late however...

*ROOOAAAAAARRRR!*

A dragon had already arrived.

Brynjolf jumps to his feet before grabbing the man and fleeing from the room, just in time to avoid being incinerated by the dragon's breath. His office was on the highest floor of Mistveil Keep, so it was an obvious target for the beast.

"MEN! EVERYONE GET TO THE DEFENCES! TAKE THAT DAMNED LIZARD DOWN!" Brynjolf shouts as he charges through the smoking keep, heading to the bottom floor to try and evade the attack.

*CRAAASH!*

The sound of something heavy impacting the dragon rings out, but Brynjolf wasn't willing to wait around to see if it had any big effect.